Cytron MP3 shield cannot initialize

[bengchet]

Hi,

In that case your SD card is not detected. The problem might comes from defect SD card, defect SD card slot or unsupported format of SD card to the SdFat library.

Please check the format of SD card by doing following:
1. Insert SD card to your PC.
2. Right click the SD card removable disk drive.
3. Check if your SD card is FAT16 or FAT32 supported. If NTFS is shown, please reformat SD card to FAT32 format.

Then hook up all stuff and upload the sketch again.

If SD card is FAT16 or FAT32 format, you can verify the detection of SD card by running some example sketches from SdFat library. Change chipselect to pin 3 for your case. If still unable to read SD card, you can send for warranty.

Thanks.

[mickamy]

Hi,

I bought Cytron MP3 shield and connected it to Arduino UNO, trying to play some mp3 file.
But I can't initialize it and even worth it doesn't show me "Init failed" message on my serial monitor!
Would you give me some advise?

- I formatted my SD card with FAT16(for it has only 2GB storage)
- I put the sta013.cfg into the root directory of my SD card
- I am testing with the example sketch "PlayATrack"
- My file names are correct, I checked it so many times
- I also introduced your "SdFat" and "MP3Player" files under Arduino/libraries/

I think the procedure is stacked in a recursive or something in mp3.Init()

I am using...
- Mac OS X El Capitan(10.11.4)
- Arduino IDE version 1.6.8
- Cytron MP3 Shield Library(the latest one)

Thanks

[bengchet]

Hi,

If there is nothing shown in serial monitor, you can try check if connection between Arduino and PC is proper. Make sure the serial port opened is correct. Check the baud rate setting too. By default it is 9600.

If the problem still persists, I suggest follow the instructions according to this thread. This will show progresses in serial monitor during mp3 initialisation and will help in debug process.

If none of them is working, you can try downgrade Arduino version to 1.6.7(which is a more stable version for now). You can install the library in other easy way. Open Arduino IDE, go to Sketch->Include Library->Manage Libraries. Type Cytron MP3Player in searchbox. The library will show in the list. Click and install.

After done, open PlayATrack example sketch, then go to Sketch -> Show Sketch Folder. You should be redirected to the library folder. (In Windows, it is something like C:\Users\BengChet\Documents\Arduino\libraries\MP3Player\examples\ListMP3Files. I guess it is almost the same to Mac OS, may be Arduino\libraries\MP3Player\examples\ListMP3Files). Go to the directory MP3Player -> extras. Copy SdFat folder and paste it in Arduino\libraries directory where MP3Player folder exists too. Restart Arduino IDE, open and compile the example sketch and see if it works!

Thank you.

[mickamy]

Thanks for your advices!

I tried your advices and nothing happened.
I uploaded some photos to show my enviroment.
Would you check them if they are correctly done please?

https://gyazo.com/ebba76cd48acd5a7d471144b55c8544d
This shows nothing happens after mp3.init(3, 2).

https://gyazo.com/eed49805198f7f0639dc11c5370e1f12
This shows my card is formatted in FAT16(フォーマット means format in Japanese), and we have sta013.cfg in the root directry.

https://gyazo.com/7800e424fa30f2796f4c1583ee01c612
This is the result when I put no card into the shield, serial monitor works just fine.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM ... 42LXo3ZnpR
This one shows that my jumper-pins are correctly connected.

And I tried this with different card and the same things happened.

Thanks for your advices again!

[bengchet]

Hi,

From the screenshots, we suspect I2C communication failure between Arduino and MP3 chip. You can try use attached sketch to verify the connection. If I2C communication is successful, you should be able to see 'data correct' in serial monitor. This sketch assumes you are using Arduino Uno and pin 2 and 3 for mp3 init. You can check pin A4 and A5 if they are in proper connection because they are the pins for I2C communication. Make sure these 2 pins are not connecting to other devices as well.

Please let us know the result. Thanks.

[mickamy]

Hi,

Thanks for your quick response bengchat!

It seems like I2C connection doesn't work properly.
Below is the screenshot of the result of the skech file which you attached.
https://gyazo.com/f26bc5a6d95f2724960c68d112a50a48
The serial monitor keeps on printing "." and never gonna end.

I am really new to arduino and hardware engineering (actually I only have one year experience of Android app development and that is all of my engineering background).
So I maybe don't understand what you are saying about I2C things, A4 or A5 things(Are they mentioned about the pins of Arduino or Cytron shield, or should I connect them each other?).

Below is the photo of my Arduino UNO and Cytron Shield when I run your sketch file(sta013.sketch).
https://goo.gl/photos/27UW3JZxNLo9phNE7
(The shield above is Cytron Mp3 shield and the below one is Arduino UNO)
Am I connecting them properly?

BTW I really do appreciate your helping.

Thanks

[bengchet]

Hi,

I2C is one of communication protocols commonly used between hardware. You can check here out to see how the concept works.

Back to main topic, you can do few final checkings. First check the output level of Arduino pin A4 and A5. See if they can give proper high or low level logic according to the sketch uploaded to Arduino. One of the methods is by using simple LED blinking sketch. Modify the pin the in the sketch to A4 and A5, make some circuit connections between these pins and LEDs and check if they are blinking properly.

Lastly, you can try uploading same 'PlayATrack' program to other Arduino boards and see if it works.

If the problem still persists, time to consider for sending warrantly for MP3 shield. and sorry for any inconveniences

Thank you.

[mickamy]

Hi,

I tested my A4 and A5 pins of my Arduino, and they works fine.
And the shield with a different Arduino didn't worked too.

I am thinking about sending warranty, and I am wondering if it is available though I didn't bought this shield from your website.
I purchased it from online shop in Japan, named Elefine (http://www.elefine.jp/SHOP/SHIELD-MP3.html).
And to where am I supposed to send it?
Or should I e-mail to Cytron's customer support?

Thanks

[ober]

hi, you can email our support team: support@cytron.com.my.

You can still claim warranty.

[mickamy]

Hi,

Today, I received new shield and it worked perfectly.
Thanks for every advice you gave me.

Thanks